Reviews

Mama, I'm Swollen

Despite a career that has featured both house shows and tour buses, simple trajectory states that after so many years, so many records, and so many collapsed lungs (frontman Tim Kasher once had a lung quit mid-tour), Cursive would be on their homestretch by now. No longer the bastions of Midwest emo, the band has the awkward distinction of being men in a world of boys. Yet for album number seven, the oddly titled Mama, I'm Swollen, Cursive seems to be bigger than ever, with appearances on Letterman, universal praise for the recording, and a newfound sense of importance. Credit Kasher's ability to shake free the youthful histrionics of his pastóremember, his spectacular divorce concept record, Domestica, was spawned from his short stay as a Portlander in the late '90sóand nicely segue into the looming panic of growing old, and our inevitable dance with mortality.